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After months of speculation and rumors, Hewlett-Packard's newest smartphone, the iPAQ hw6500 series—also called the Mobile Messenger, has finally found a U.S. home.

We've even got a specific launch date.

The largest mobile operator in the country, Cingular Wireless, will start carrying two versions of the device, the iPAQ hw6515 and hw6510, on October 31st.

Happy Halloween.

The hw6515 features a 1.3-megapixel camera and the hw6510 doesn't. (Many organizations and enterprises won't roll out a device with a camera for security reasons.) The version of the smartphone with a camera includes an LED flash for taking pictures up to 1280 x 1024 pixels in resolution or video at 640 x 480 pixels.

HP first introduced the iPAQ hw6500 series back in February 2005, as part of a proposed extensive foray into the world of mobile handsets after the lukewarm reception of its first cellular-enabled Pocket PC, the iPAQ h6315. The smartphone has been shipping in parts of Europe and Asia for several months now.

Because of high-speed EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution) network support and a number of other factors, HP's new smartphone is a major step forward over the company's first Pocket PC Phone. Cingular's EDGE network promises to exchange data at average speeds of 135 kilobits per second (kbps), about three times as fast as conventional wired dial-up connections.

The Pocket PC Phone integrates a QWERTY thumb-keyboard. Many prospective customers seemingly passed on the earlier h6315 because the keyboard wasn't physically merged into the unit like a lot of today’s most popular smartphones, such as Palm, Inc.'s Treo 650 and Research In Motion BlackBerry handhelds.

iPAQ hw6500 series smartphones run on a 312 MHz Intel XScale processor, 64 MB of RAM (46 MB available to the user) and an 8 MB File Store with 64 MB of ROM. Taiwanese original equipment manufacturer High Tech Computer (HTC) designed the smartphone.

They are the first handhelds of their type with a square 240 x 240 pixel resolution display. The hw6500 measures 4.7 x 2.8 x 0.8 inches (118 x 71 x 21 millimeters) and weighs 5.8 ounces (165 grams).

In addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE and Bluetooth radios, the hw6500 has a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver with NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) standards support for navigation and other location services. Even though the hw6500 series lacks an external GPS antenna, HP asserts the Pocket PC Phone still gets good reception from satellites. Where that isn't possible, the device turns to cell phone tower triangulation to determine locations.

Software
HP and Cingular have collaborated with 14 application providers to create the HP Mobility Solutions Evaluation Center, a one-stop shop for mobility solutions and know-how for notebooks, tablet PC and handheld devices. Customers can visit this online resource to learn about and download trial versions of mobile applications such as mail and messaging, security, navigation and business solutions. The Web site also includes HP-branded solutions such as Hosted Microsoft Exchange, Open Roaming and HP Navigation System.

HP senior vice president and general manager, Mobile Computing Global Business Unit Ted Clark says, "Together with Cingular, we are empowering customers to take full advantage of mobility in ways they've never experienced before and to change the way they do business and how they connect to information, communication and even entertainment."

Mob-E-Mail
Cingular customers will have a choice of two "push" e-mail services: Good Technology's GoodLink and Cingular's SEVEN-based Xpress Mail. GoodLink, which is targeted by Cingular to medium and large businesses, provides a two-way, wirelessly synchronized connection to Microsoft Outlook e-mail, PIM and other corporate applications.

Cingular Xpress Mail gives individuals and small business access to work and personal e-mail, calendar and contacts as well as the ability to view attachments. Extended Systems is another company that provides mobile access to earlier versions of Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes.

Other Applications
In terms of GPS and Navigation, HP provides Microsoft Pocket Streets as a free download for customers in North America. For those looking for fuller featured GPS-enabled turn-by-turn navigation solution, HP's NAVTEQ-based iPAQ Navigation Maps and software is available as an option. The GEOTAB mobile field force and fleet management solution represents another one of several GPS-based solutions compatible with the HP iPAQ hw6500.

CREDANT Technologies delivers access controls to help protect sensitive data. Bluefire Security Technologies provides wireless VPN clients for Cisco/Nortel infrastructures. iAnywhere offers mobile device management and security features. Ecutel enables a more secure mobile VPN. HP Open Roaming allows enterprises to implement mobility solutions that insulate users from the complexities of managing different networks on their wireless devices.

Additional business applications include customer relationship management and sales force automation software such as Siebel and Dovarri; field force automation software from Countermind and WennSoft; and industry-specific applications such as healthcare data management from PatientKeeper.

Cingular will offer the device at $449 with a two-year contract, and $39.99 per month for unlimited data with a qualified voice plan.

For more on the iPAQ hw6500, see Preview: iPAQ hw6515 - HP's Smart New Smartphone Entry. We'll publish a review of a hw6500 series handset to complement our preview later this week.